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New Buildings and Projects: New England Conservatory, U. of Central Florida, Lasell College, and North Carolina State U.

Among the New England Conservatory’s newly renovated buildings is St. Botolph Hall. (New England Conservatory photos)

Concluding a $20-million overhaul of its four buildings, the New England Conservatory has reopened Jordan Hall, a 1903 concert hall celebrated for its acoustics. The buildings received new roofs and many new windows, and much of their brickwork was repointed. In addition, some damaged marblework was replaced in Jordan Hall, and new terra cotta ornaments were cast to replace sections that had decayed. New high-efficiency boilers were installed as well. The conservatory celebrated completion of the project—which was finished ahead of schedule and under budget by Tishman Construction—with a party for neighbors and friends (left).

The University of Central Florida Health Sciences Campus has a new 198,000-square-foot home for its Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences (left; U. of Central Florida photo). Designed by Hellmuth, Obata, and Kassabaum, the building has four levels of laboratories as well as lab-support spaces, animal-research facilities, and offices and conference spaces for faculty members. The labs are designed to be easily reconfigured as research needs change.

Lasell College has opened two new residence halls (left; Lasell College photo) with a total of 65 double rooms, five rooms for resident advisers, and a suite for a resident director. The $12.25-million project, designed by the Boston firm Steffian Bradley Architects, also includes a 70-space underground parking garage. The two buildings complete a residential quadrangle on the northwest corner of the campus.

North Carolina State U. turned to the Norwegian firm Snøhetta to design the new James B. Hunt Jr. Library. (North Carolina State U. images)

North Carolina State University has broken ground for a “signature” library on its Centennial research campus. Snøhetta, a firm with offices in Oslo and New York, is credited as “lead designer” on the project, while North Carolina’s Pearce Brinkley Cease + Lee Architecture is listed as “executive architects.” Named for former Governor James B. Hunt Jr., the library will comprise 139,000 net square feet. The state legislature originally appropriated $126-million for the building but sliced $10.7-million off the total because of budget woes. Among other features, the building will have an automated retrieval system for a collection of up to two million items. The opening is expected in 2012.

The new library will anchor an academic oval in the university’s Centennial research park.